Acadia, or Acadie,
the ancient name of NOVA SCOTIA and adjacent regions. It is supposed
to have been visited by
Sebastian Cabot in 1498, but the first
attempt to plant a settlement there was by
De Monts, in 1604, who
obtained a charter from the King of France for making settlements
and carrying on trade. In that charter it is called Cadie, and by
the early settlers it was known as L'Acadie. A settlement was made
at a place named Port Royal (now Annapolis), by Poutrincourt, a
bosom friend of De Monts, but it was broken up in 1613, by
Argall, from Virginia.
These French emigrants built cottages sixteen years before the
Pilgrims landed on the shores
of New England. When English people
came, antagonisms arising from difference of religion and
nationality appeared, and, after repeated struggles between the
English and French for the possession of Acadia, it was ceded to
Great Britain by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. But for many years
not a dozen English families were seen there. The descendants of the
early French settlers occupied the land, and were a peaceable,
pastoral people, who never engaged in the forays of the French and
Indians along the New England frontiers. They were attached to their
fatherland and their religion, and they refused to fight against the
former or abjure the latter. This attitude was accorded to them by
solemn agreements, and they were known as " French Neutrals." They
were happy in their neutrality, and in their isolation they formed
one great and loving family. Pure in morals, pious without bigotry,
honest, industrious, and frugal, they presented an outline picture
of Utopia.

When New-Englanders began to colonize
Nova Scotia
vigorously, their priests, fired with zeal for the Church, disturbed
their repose by dread of " heretics " and warnings not to take the
oath of allegiance to Great Britain. " Better," said the Jesuits, "
surrender your meadows to the sea and your treasures to the flames
than, at the peril of your souls, to take the oath of allegiance to
the British government." So the priests, with which Canada furnished
them, and on whom they implicitly relied, disturbed the peace and
led them on to their ruinous troubles. At one time they would
resolve to flee to Canada ; at another the love of their homes would
make them resolve to remain. The haughtiness of British officers
aided the priests in fomenting disaffection. The English despised
the Acadians because they were helpless in their lack of knowledge
of English laws, and they were continually robbed of their rights
and property by English officials. Was any of their property
demanded for the public service, they were " not to be bargained
with for payment "; so the orders ran. Under various pretences they
were continually shorn, yet they meekly submitted to the tyranny of
their masters. The English officers were authorized to punish
Acadians for what they might deem misbehavior, at their discretion,
and, if British troops should be annoyed by them, they might inflict
vengeance on the nearest Acadians " whether guilty or not." Finally,
persuaded by the French government and their priests, the Acadians
abandoned nearly all the peninsula, and settled themselves in a
fertile region on the isthmus between the northern extremity of the
Bay of Fundy and Northumberland Strait. The object of the movement
was to make them form a barrier against the encroachments of the
English. There the French built two forts, the principal of which
was Beau Sejour, on the Bay of Fundy, where the isthmus is only 15
miles wide. In June, 1755, a land and naval armament came from
Boston, landed at the head of the Bay of Fundy, captured the forts,
and took military possession of the country of the French Neutrals.
The French soldiers were sent to Louisburg, and the Acadians who had
been forced into the French service were granted an amnesty. They
readily took an oath of allegiance, expected forbearance, and went
on quietly cultivating their land. But the exasperation of the
people of New England, because of the
horrible forays of the French and Indians on their frontiers, had to
be appeased, and vengeance was inflicted upon these innocent people.
It was resolved to banish the French Neutrals from their country.
Governor Shirley had proposed it years before, in order to supply
their place with Protestants; and the British government had
promoted emigration thither, that a strong admixture of Protestants
might neutralize the efforts of the priests to make the Acadians
disloyal. Now Shirley's scheme was adopted, and General Winslow, who
commanded the invaders, was made the executor of it.

It was believed by the English that if the
Acadians were permitted to go to Canada or Cape Breton, they would
thus strengthen the enemies of the English ; to distribute them
would destroy their strength and prevent attempts to return. To
accomplish this, a disgraceful artifice was employed. The English
authorities issued a proclamation, ordering " both old and young
men, as well as all the lads of ten years of age," to assemble on
Sept. 5, 1755, at designated places. They obeyed. The proceedings at
one place afford a fair picture of those at all others. At
Grand-Pre, 418 unarmed men and youths were assembled, and marched
into the church. There General Winslow told them they had been
called together to hear the decision of the King of England in
regard to the French inhabitants of the province. " Your lands and
tenements," he said, " cattle of all kinds, and live-stock of all
sorts, are forfeited to the crown, and you, yourselves, are to be
removed from this his province. I am, through his Majesty's
goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry off your money and
household goods, as many as you can, without discommoding the
vessels you go in. You are now the King's prisoners."

Every household in Grand-Pre was filled with
consternation. At Grand-Pre alone 1,923 men, women, and children
were driven on board British vessels at the point of the bayonet.
Fully 2,000 were thus expelled from their homes in Acadia. The men
and boys assembled at the church went first; the sisters, wives, and
daughters had to wait for other transports. They marched from the
church to the water's edge, some in sullen despair, others with
hands clasped and eyes uplifted, praying and weeping, and others
singing hymns, while on each side of the sad procession was a row of
women and children on their knees, imploring blessings upon the
heads of dear ones. They were all finally distributed in the various
English colonies. Many families, separated at the outset by the
cruel arrangements for their transportation, were never reunited;
and for a long time the colonial newspapers contained advertisements
seeking information about fragments of dismembered families. They
were dropped along the shores of the English colonies, from the
Penobscot to the Savannah, with-out resources, and ignorant of the
language of the people among whom they were thrust, excepting in
South Carolina, where the Huguenot
families treated them with great kindness. They abhorred the
alms-house and dreaded service in English families. They yearned
intensely for their native land and kindred in language and
religion. Many wandered through the forests to Canada and
Louisiana-men, women, and children-sheltered in bush-camps and
kindly cared for by the Indians, that they might rest under French
dominion. Some families went to sea in open boats, to find their way
back to Acadia; and, coasting along the shores of New England, were
there met by orders from Nova Scotia to stop all returning
fugitives. Many touching stories of parents seeking their children,
husbands their wives, and lovers their affianced have been related.
It is a sad, sad story of man's inhumanity to man.

Even in their bitter exile the Acadians were
subjected to the hatred and cruelty of English officials. When LORD
LOUDOUN was commander-in-chief in America, some of the Acadians
settled in Pennsylvania ventured to address a respectful petition to
him. Offended because the document was in the French language, the
Earl seized five of the leading men who signed the petition, and who
had been persons of wealth and distinction in Acadia, and sent them
to England, with a request that, to prevent their being troublesome
in the future, they should be consigned to hard service as common
sailors in the royal navy. The King seems to have approved the
measure; and the Lords of Trade, when the desolation of Acadia was
made complete, congratulated the profligate monarch that the zeal of
the governor of Nova Scotia, who had driven them away, had been "
crowned with entire success." Exquisitely cruel was the treatment
these poor people received at the hands of their conquerors. The
method employed to legally dispossess the Acadians of their coveted
lands was most disgraceful. They had taken the oath of allegiance,
but refused to take an oath that they would bear arms against the
French if required, and practically abjure their religion. Exemption
from this had been solemnly promised them. The governor of Nova
Scotia referred the matter to the chief-justice of the province as a
technical question in law, whether one who refuses to take all
required oaths could hold lands in the British dominions. The
chief-justice decided against the Acadians, and it was determined to
take their lands away from them and distribute them among the
English colonists. The French government asked leave for the
Acadians to take with them their effects and to settle where they
chose. " No," replied their masters, " they are too useful subjects
to be lost; we must enrich our
colonies with them."
Unfortunately for the poor people, some of their best men presented
a petition to the governor at Halifax. He would not receive it, and
demanded that they should immediately take the oaths required before
the council. " We will do as our people may determine," they meekly
replied, and asked permission to return home and consult them. The
next day, perceiving the perilous position of their people, they
offered to take the oaths. " By a law of the realm," said the
governor, " Roman Catholics who have once refused to take the oaths
cannot be permitted to do so afterwards, and are considered Popish
recusants." They were cast into prison, and the chief-justice
decided that all the French inhabitants--hundreds of innocent
families who were ignorant of all these proceedings-were " rebels
and Popish recusants," and stood in the way of " English interests "
in the country, and that they had forfeited all their possessions to
the crown. So their doom was sealed. See Longfellow's Evangeline.

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